WINTER commissioning and early performance: a new time-domain near-IR facility

Danielle Frostig; Kevin B. Burdge; Kishalay De; Gábor Furész; Kari Haworth; Erik Hinrichsen; Viraj R. Karambelkar; Mansi M. Kasliwal; Nathan P. Lourie; Andrew Malonis; Geoffrey Mo; Robert A. Simcoe; Cruz Soto; Robert Stein

doi:10.1117/12.3019165

18 July 2024 WINTER commissioning and early performance: a new time-domain near-IR facility

Danielle Frostig, Kevin B. Burdge, Kishalay De, Gábor Furész, Kari Haworth, Erik Hinrichsen, Viraj R. Karambelkar, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Nathan P. Lourie, Andrew Malonis, Geoffrey Mo, Robert A. Simcoe, Cruz Soto, Robert Stein

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13096, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy X; 130963J (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019165
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The Wide-Field Infrared Transient Explorer (WINTER) is a new near-infrared time-domain survey instrument installed on a dedicated 1-meter robotic telescope at Palomar Observatory in June of 2023. WINTER’s science goals include robotic follow-up of kilonovae from binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron-star black-hole (NSBH) mergers, surveys to study galactic and extragalactic transients and variables, along with building up a deep, coadded image of the near-infrared sky. The project also serves as a technology demonstration for new large-format Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) detectors for cost-effective near-infrared photometry without cryogenic cooling. WINTER’s custom camera combines six InGaAs detectors as a first run of a newly-designed 1920 x 1080 pixel read out integrated circuit (ROIC). It uses a novel tiled fly’s-eye optical design to cover a > 1 degree-squared field of view in Y-, J-, and shortened-H-band filters (0.9-1.7μm). The survey currently operates with a median limiting magnitude of J_AB ≈ 18.5, running nightly robotic surveys and target of opportunity programs. In parallel to these science programs, there is ongoing work to improve WINTER’s performance, which shows a factor of ∼ 10 decreased instrument efficiency from the design. Laboratory and on-sky testing suggest the sensor’s InGaAs diode array is performing properly, but sensitivity is being lost during amplification in the ROIC’s pixel amplifier. We present the laboratory and on-sky performance newly-commissioned WINTER observatory along with ongoing and future efforts to improve performance.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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Danielle Frostig, Kevin B. Burdge, Kishalay De, Gábor Furész, Kari Haworth, Erik Hinrichsen, Viraj R. Karambelkar, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Nathan P. Lourie, Andrew Malonis, Geoffrey Mo, Robert A. Simcoe, Cruz Soto, and Robert Stein "WINTER commissioning and early performance: a new time-domain near-IR facility", Proc. SPIE 13096, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy X, 130963J (18 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019165

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